Cooking Up an Effective E-newsletter

Cost-conscious marketers are increasingly foregoing the expense of printing and postage and making the switch to electronic distribution of their newsletters. When executed well, e-newsletters can deepen relationships with customers, drive repeat business, and generate referrals. But cooking up an effective e-newsletter is more like slow roasting ribs on the grill than zapping leftovers in the microwave. You need to devote time and resources to create an e-newsletter that will keep your readers coming back for more. To get the biggest bang for your marketing buck:

• Satisfy Your Readers' Appetites.

  Customers will quickly relegate your e-newsletter to the deleted items folder if you fail to provide value and relevance. To avoid this, consider surveying your customers to find out what topics are of the most interest to them. Then spend some serious time preparing an editorial calendar. Too often, newsletters are scraped together at the last minute as time-starved marketers rush to simply fill empty space and meet deadlines, rather then providing valuable, interesting content.

• Presentation Matters.

  A poorly designed e-newsletter can quickly discourage readers, so make sure your format is easy to read. Include lots of white space and compelling images to balance the text. But keep in mind that many people have turned off images in their email program, so make sure your newsletter still looks appealing without images. Don't crowd the page with too much text. For longer articles, provide a brief synopsis and then provide a link to the full article. This is also an effective way to drive readers to your website (if you’re reading this, you’re now on the Bull’s-eye website!)

• How Was Your Meal?

  An e-newsletter allows you to engage your customers in a conversation and gather feedback. You can do this by linking to an online poll or survey. If your company runs a blog, encourage readers to post their comments. You can also use these methods to solicit suggestions for future topics.

• Refine Your Recipe.

  Unlike direct mail, email marketing allows you to quickly track your results. By analyzing click-through and open rates, you can learn which topics of are of the most interest to your audience. Use this information to drive your editorial content development strategy. Give them more of what they want and less of what they don't.

• Is your e-newsletter earning rave reviews? If not, call me at 774-719-2324 for a complimentary e-newsletter assessment.